


A Nightmare Realized

by ETNMystic



Series: Mystic's Original Works (Possibly Transferred From My Other Accounts On Other Writing Sites) [20]
Category: Coraline - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: Implied Death, a bit based on "Coraline.", cw dolls, okay maybe straight-up death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETNMystic/pseuds/ETNMystic
Summary: Lucy begins to uncover some strange happenings in her town.......
Series: Mystic's Original Works (Possibly Transferred From My Other Accounts On Other Writing Sites) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726699
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	A Nightmare Realized

"Lucy, time to get up!"

My bones were stiff and I was drenched in sweat. I had just woken up from a nightmare where I was in an operating room and the surgeon turned out to be an evil king doll and he wanted me to stay with him, so he was going to turn me into an evil queen doll. When he was about to sew the buttons into my eyes, I woke up, checking myself for any stitching or stuffing. I'd been having that dream for a long time, but why did the dream always stay the same? Didn't most people have different dreams?

I got dressed and got downstairs, where breakfast was waiting.

"Here's your breakfast, Lucy!"

As my mother set the plate down, I noticed that she had some stitches on her arm. That's strange, I thought.

"Mother, why do you have stitches on your arm?"

"What stitches? Oh, these. I got some bad cuts on my arm one time, so the doctor had to sew me up."

"Okay."

As I was eating, I couldn't help but think about those stitches on my mother's arm. I didn't remember her getting any cuts and the stitches looked like they had been sewn not more than a couple of months ago. I'm pretty sure I would have remember if she had received stitches, but who am I to question my mother?

* * *

After breakfast, I decided to go to the park with my best friend, Stacy. Then maybe to Meadow Malts for some ice cream and a soda. Stacy and I lived close to each other and we lived in walking distance of the park and Meadow Malts, so when it came to weekends, we knew what we were doing together.

We arrived at the park together and decided to go on the swings. People always tell us that fourteen is too old for playing on the swings, but it wasn't like there were age limits on the playground.

"You want to have a swinging competition?" Stacy asked me.

"Sure. What kind?"

"All-around."

An all-around swinging competition was where you won based on how far you go, how fancy the tricks are, how many you do, how high you swing, stuff like that. Stacy and I were both master gymnasts, so we liked to do these kinds of contests whenever we had the chance.

During the competition, Stacy decided to attempt to swing around the top of the swing. She was getting closer and closer to the bar at the top. Then she lost her grip and fell to the ground.

"Stace, are you all right?"

There was a long silence. I almost thought that she was dead when--

"I'm okay, but I think I'm bleeding."

I ran over to her and she was right. She was bleeding a bit. Since I didn't have a cloth or any adhesive padding with me, I tried to clot the bleeding with my finger. But when I touched the blood, it didn't feel like blood. It felt soft and fuzzy, like stuffing. And her skin. Her skin was soft and felt-like, almost like a doll. I must be going insane, I thought.

"Let's go to Meadow Malts. Maybe they have a bandage or something to help that cut."

When we got to Meadow Malts, I asked the lady for something to help Stacy's cut.

"Of course, but your friend needs to come to the back room to get it."

"Why?"

"It's hard to explain."

While Stacy was in the back room with the lady, I decided to get some ice cream. The nightmare I had last night must be making me delusional, I thought. Some ice cream might help.

When I was finished, I went up to the counter to pay. I took the money out of my wallet and handed a twenty to the lady at the register. When she grabbed the money, my blood ran cold. The lady's hand was soft and felt-like, like a doll's hand. Like Stacy's hand.

"It's all fixed!" Stacy said as she came out of the back room.

I looked at the cut. It wasn't bandaged though. It had been sewn together. Something was very, very wrong.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"The nice lady just fixed my cut."

"Not that! Something's incredibly wrong. When I was trying to stop the blood that was flowing from you cut, it wasn't even blood. It was fuzzy, like stuffing. And your skin was like felt. And now your cut has been sewn together! It's almost like you are a---"

"Like I am a what?"

"A doll! A rag doll!"

There was a moment of silence. Then Stacy and the ladies looked at each other.

"She has found out."

"Found out what?"

They turned back to me. Their eyes were a creepy and deadly shade of red.

"We are dolls. Living, breathing, talking rag dolls," said Stacy.

"What?"

"Fourteen years ago, a toy maker successfully made a living rag doll. He was going to show the doll to the public, but the doll didn't like people because they usually abandoned dolls.

"One night, while everyone else was asleep, the doll snuck into the toy maker's workshop. All night, he was busy, creating an army of living rag dolls. He ordered them to enslave the humans by turning them into rag dolls. Without humans, no one could be abandoned.

"Every human had been enslaved, except for two people. A man and a woman. The woman had just had a baby girl the day before when the army invaded. The woman didn't want her baby girl to be enslaved, so she promised the baby to the leader of the rag dolls, known as the Doll King. On the girl's fourteenth year, she has to be turned into the Doll Queen and marry the king."

"Who is this girl?"

"Don't you see, Lucy? You are the girl!"

My blood ran colder than before. Now everyone in the shop was ganging up together and surrounding me. Fortunately they left an exit opened. Using the opening to my advantage, I ran as fast as I could out of the shop and to my house.

Where my house should have been, there was a dark, creepy castle-like mansion. I knew that I shouldn't go in there, but when you are being chased by a mob of doll people who want to turn you over to their king because of a promise made fourteen years ago, where else can you go?

The door creaked as I opened it. The inside was just as frightening as the outside. I took a few steps inside and the door slammed behind me. After recovering from a shock of fright, I continued on. I soon faced a long, dark, eerie hallway.

"Great," I told myself.  
"This is going to be just like in those horror movies where the girl goes down a long hallway, then a door opens as soon as she's halfway in, snatches her up, and she doesn't come out. I guess I'll just have to take it slowly. Then, if any doors open, I'll pick up speed."

I was about to execute the plan when I heard someone scream

"LUCY!!!!!!"

from the end of the hallway.

"Or I could just pick up speed now."

I swiftly sped through the creepy corridor. The hallway seemed like it wouldn't end. It did though. I was too late to slow down and I tripped on the first step of a flight of stairs. I had scraped some skin off of my leg and I was bleeding a bit, mind you real blood, not stuffing. I tried to stop the bleeding, but all it did was get my hands wet. I heard my name being screamed again, wiped my hands off as best as I could, brushed my blond hair out of my face, and continued.

By the time I had reached the top, I was tired and out of breath. The run up the stairs was excruciatingly painful and I had lost a little bit more blood, so I was feeling light-headed. I looked up to see a black door. I pushed on it and it opened a little. I decided to go inside.

It was completely dark in the room. I had to be careful of where I stepped because there could've been traps or devices that could kill you on contact. I had made it halfway through the room, at least I was sure it was halfway, when I heard a voice. This one was completely different to the one that had screamed my name and more villainous as well.

"Why hello, Lucille, my dear."

It was a man's voice.

"W-who are you?" I gathered up the courage to ask.

Instead of an answer, the voice gave a villainous laugh and I felt a blow to my head.

* * *

I woke up after what felt like hours in a room not unlike the one I saw in my dreams. It was a combination of an operating room, a toy maker's workshop, a mad scientist's laboratory, and a castle. I tried to sit up, but something was keeping me held down. I looked and saw that my arms, legs, and waist had been restrained with seemed like stitches. Stitches? Oh god, please don't let this be real, I thought. Fortunately, my skin wasn't felt-like and my blood wasn't stuffing. How I knew that it was real blood was because my legs were still bleeding from the encounter with the stairs.

I seemed to be held on some sort of operating table covered in felt. Well that explained how the stitches could hold me down, but why was I being held down in the first place? Then I heard the laugh again. I shuddered at it. Who did the laugh belong to? Why did they want me?

"At last, Lucille! We finally meet!"

Lucille. My birth name. I didn't like to use it a lot and when anyone did use it, it meant that I was in trouble. For this situation, I was sure that Lucille was appropriate to use as my name.

"Who are you? And where am I?" I ventured to ask. I closed my eyes, waiting for another blow to the head. Fortunately, no blow was issued, yet I had a feeling that something much more severe than some blow to the head was coming my way.

"I........... I am the Doll King...... King Edward! First ever talking...... magical..... rag doll in.... existence. Last doll to be cast....... aside by humans. I took your petty....... useless....... little........ human town and remade it in...... my own design. And you......... you my dear Lucille, are in my experimental lair. And what you are on right now is.......a special invention that I've been waiting........ to use for fourteen years. This invention....... which I christened the Nightmare......... can convert flesh into felt........ hair into threads....... bones and blood into fluff..... and eyes into buttons!

The Nightmare? Then I realized the horrifying principle in this situation. With The Nightmare, my nightmare could become reality. I decided to pretend that I didn't understand. I wanted to see where all of this was going.

"What do you plan to do with the Nightmare?" I asked.

"What do I plan to do with it? The solution, my dear.......... It's childishly simple and no more complex than a small child's nine piece puzzle. With the Nightmare...... I will convert every cruel...... heartless....... simple-minded........ worthless human being into living...... breathing...... mind-controlled..... rag dolls. And I plan to start.......... with you, my dear!"

"But why me?"

"Because you are pure-hearted...... gentle...... sweet........genuinely beautiful..... and intelligent. You are everything......... that no....... other human....... has ever been. But the main reason..... is that you were..... promised to me........ fourteen years ago by..... your dear mother and father. A mother and a father...... were things that I never had."

"Parents aren't things! They are people! People who are caring, kind-hearted, and respectful. They are people who love their children no matter what!"

"Oh are they? I wouldn't be.... too sure..... about that theory. Especially..... in the case.... of your parents!"

My parents. I suddenly realized that the person who had screamed my name sounded just like my mother!

"Where are my parents? What have you done to them?"

He took out a remote control and pushed a button. A door opened and out came two figures. They looked somewhat familiar and then I saw who they were.

"Mother! Father! Are you all right?"

"We are fine," said Father.

I couldn't believe that. They looked and sounded far from fine. Their eyes were red buttons, their skin was felt, their hair was thread, and they had stitches around their body.

"Don't be concerned.... about your useless... parents. The story....... about you is missing.... a vital piece. Your mother...... and father...... gave you up because...... they thought that you...... were a useless..... good-for-nothing..... little pig!"

Could it be true? Could they have given me up because they didn't love me? I was starting to believe it when I realized that my parents are loving people. They wouldn't give me up for anything, unless they were brutally forced to do so. He was just trying to manipulate me.

"You're wrong! My parents do love me! They wouldn't give me up for anything in the world!"

This was a lot like a book I read where a girl goes to a different planet and a man is trying to manipulate her mind in order to make her stay there.

"If you are so sure..... of that, then you....... have a choice......... to make. You may either...... go along with...... my plan..... to turn you...... into the Doll Queen."

I shuddered at the thought of it. But what if the second option was worse?

"And if I say no?"

"Then..... I will tear...... your precious parents..... into shreds of cloth........ and stuffing."

He pressed another button on his remote. In a few seconds, my parents were tied up and hung by their feet above the floor. Pressing another button, he opened up the floor under where my parents hung. The floor revealed large, sharp, steel blades. They began to drop slowly towards the blades, screaming.

"No! Not my parents!"

"Then become what you were meant..... to become!"

I was trying to decide. If I said no, my parents would die. If I said yes, then I wouldn't be free, but at least my parents would be safe. Safe, but not free. Actually, they wouldn't even be safe. If I messed up as his queen, he might end up killing them anyway. Either way, this was going to end up horribly for all three of us.

"If I say yes and become the Doll Queen, will you spare my parents?"

He thought about this.

"I don't make any promises..... but for a girl like you....... they will be spared."

"Fine. I'll do it. I have no choice," I said with a hint of true sadness in my voice.

"Wonderful. You have made..... a wise decision."

There was a whirring sound and the Nightmare started up. Soon everything went black.........

* * *

I woke up in my bedroom. I had had the nightmare again, only this time it had seemed more real. I got up and looked at myself in the mirror. I touched my skin.

"That's odd," I thought.  
"It feels soft, almost like rags or felt."

Felt? Oh god, this better not be what I think it is, I thought. I looked at my eyes. They seemed normal, color wise. But were those..... buttons? I examined my hair. It was soft and smooth like threads of silk. Threads? Then I checked my arms. Stitching on the side. And what was this on my head? It felt like a crown. But why? Then the horrible truth hit me. What happened was no dream. This time my nightmare had become a reality. I was now the Doll Queen. At least my parents had been spared.

I ran up a corridor, where servants were talking as they passed. One particular conversation caught my attention.

_".....Such a tragedy. The poor parents were killed soon afterwards."_

_"That's awful! How's she taking it?"_

_"Why, I have not asked!"_

I ran over to the two servant girls.

"Um excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear what you were talking about. Who's parents were killed?"

They looked at me and then the first one hugged me.

"Oh, Mademoiselle Lucille! We are truly sorry about your tragic loss!"

Tragic loss?

"What are you talking about? There wasn't a tragedy."

The other girl looked surprised.

"You haven't heard about what happened to your parents?"

"What happened to my parents?"

There was a long pause.

"Go look out in the backyard garden," the first one said.

The two walked on, sobbing. This didn't sound too good.

I ran out into the backyard and found the garden. I walked around for a bit before I saw them. I didn't recognize what it was at first, but soon it all came back to me.

_"I don't make any promises..... but for a girl like you....... they will be spared."_

I gasped at the heap of cloth. As a thunderstorm came in, I realized who the cloth belonged to. There, on top of their remains in plain sight, were the hollow and frightened faces of my parents.

"No. No, it can't be!"

"Oh, but it is, my dear Lucille," Edward had appeared.

"You lied to me!"

Edward smirked.

"I told you....I don't make any promises. But that doesn't matter anymore: now you will be mine forever!"

He flashed his eyes at me, I went under his spell, and the world went black......... forever.


End file.
